Notable generals were Josef Radetzky, Karl Philipp of Schwarzenberg, Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen, Frederick Bianchi and Julius von Haynau.

Prior to 1852 the system of recruitment was complicated with both volunteers and conscripts being utilised by the Austrian army however conscripts could pay others to take their place and the upper classes were generally exempt entirely, additionally all men in the Military Frontier region were potentially liable to a lifetime of military service.

[1] In 1852 this ramshackle method of recruitment was partially amended with 2 years compulsory service across the entire empire, with reservists being used to supplement active units.

The infantry of the Austrian army were divided into 3 types, the Line (subdivided into German or Hungarian on a geographical basis), Grenzer and Jäger.

Because of several defeats by Napoleon, recently at Ulm & Austerlitz serious military reforms began under Archduke Charles in order not to repeat the previous setbacks in the future.

At the Battle of Wagram, the Austrian army finally lost after heavy fighting and Austria was forced to sign the Peace of Schönbrunn, ending the War of the Fifth Coalition.

[8] In 1812, the Austrian Empire was forced to take part in the French invasion of Russia, although its troops saw little fighting and did not participate in the main advance on Moscow.

[9] After being defeated at the Battle of Dresden, coalition forces withdrew into Bohemia and then invaded the Kingdom of Saxony again after a counteroffensive at Kulm.

In the meantime the Austrians successfully retook the Dalmatian coast and fought to a stalemate in Northern Italy until Napoleon's defeat.

In the Seventh Coalition, the Austrian army fought mainly against the Kingdom of Naples under Joachim Murat, who was decisively defeated at the Battle of Tolentino by Frederick Bianchi.

The Kingdom of Sardinia, hoping to acquire Lombardy and Veneto from an Austria distracted by the uprisings, declared the First Italian War of Independence.

Field Marshal Josef Radetzky, who led the army in northern Italy, had previously had to evacuate Milan because of violent revolts.

After a joint Italian army was again decisively defeated by Josef Radetzky at the Battle of Novara, King Charles Albert of Sardinia abdicated in favor of his son Victor Emmanuel II, and Piedmont signed a peace treaty with the Austrian Empire.

[14] As a result of this defeat, 60 generals were retired and Ludwig von Benedek was appointed the new commander-in-chief to advance the modernization of the army.

[15] After the defeat in the war of 1866, which Austria had waged together with allies in the German Confederation as part of the federal execution against Prussia, Emperor Franz Joseph I was forced in 1866/1867 to appease Hungary, which had been in passive resistance since the failed attempts at secession in 1849, with the grant of partial sovereignty and the conversion of the monarchy, which had previously been run as a single unit, into the so-called "Dual Monarchy".